| The first excerpt represents the past or something you must release, and is drawn from Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: gilding of one in particular, when, taking out his watch,
he stopped short to pronounce it with surprise within
twenty minutes of five! This seemed the word of separation,
and Catherine found herself hurried away by Miss Tilney
in such a manner as convinced her that the strictest
punctuality to the family hours would be expected at Northanger.
Returning through the large and lofty hall,
they ascended a broad staircase of shining oak, which,
after many flights and many landing-places, brought them
upon a long, wide gallery. On one side it had a range
of doors, and it was lighted on the other by windows
Northanger Abbey |
The second excerpt represents the present or the deciding factor of the moment, and is drawn from The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories by Alice Dunbar: first act! Encore after encore was given, and the bravos of the
troisiemes were enough to stir the most sluggish of pulses.
"Superbes Pyrenees
Qui dressez dans le ciel,
Vos cimes couronnees
D'un hiver eternelle,
Pour nous livrer passage
Ouvrez vos larges flancs,
Faites faire l'orage,
Voici, venir les Francs!"
M'sieu quickened his pace down Bourbon Street as he sang the
The Goodness of St. Rocque and Other Stories |
The third excerpt represents the future or something you must embrace, and is drawn from Scenes from a Courtesan's Life by Honore de Balzac: precious pair tripped us up at the last step; but I will make them pay
dear for their pranks.
"One day more and Lucien would have been a rich man; he might have
married his Clotilde de Grandlieu.--Then the boy would have been all
my own!--And to think that our fate depends on a look, on a blush of
Lucien's under Camusot's eye, who sees everything, and has all a
judge's wits about him! For when he showed me the letters we tipped
each other a wink in which we took each other's measure, and he
guessed that I can make Lucien's lady-loves fork out."
This soliloquy lasted for three hours. His torments were so great that
they were too much for that frame of iron and vitriol; Jacques Collin,
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